Combined door holder and buffer



D July 5, 1932. G. w. WELLS COMBINED DOOR HOLDER AND BUFFER Filed May 14. 1930 lvvercor,

r ,20 135g i.

Patented July 5, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFT-Ica GEORGE W. WELLS, OF AMESBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF 1'0 WALKER- BODY COMPANY, OF AMESBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS COMBINED DOOR HOLDER AND BUFFER Application. filed May 14,

This invention relatesto devices which are usually employed in connection with the doors of automobile bodies for the purpose of correctly aligning the door with its casing during the latter portion of its closing movement, cushioning the door at the end of such movement and holding it against rattling after it hasbeen fully closed, devices of this nature which align the door and hold it against rattling, being commonly known as door holders or dove tails and thosewhich merely cushion its closing movement being known as buffers, or bumpers.

It has been common practice to provide each door casing of a closed body automobile with a pair of rubber buffers, one located near its top and the other near its bottom, and to provide the door and casing with a dove tail, or door holder at an intermediate point. v

In the devicedisclosed in my Patent No. 1,768,459, dated'J une 24., 1930, the functions of a door holder and a buffer are effectively combined, so that not more than two of these devices need to be installed for each door, and the present invention more particularly relates to certain improvements on the device of said patent.

In order that a device of this character may effectively combine the functions of a buffer and of a door holder which vprevents all rattling, it must practically have three distinct functions viz, it must effectively cushion the closing movement of the door, it must act to hold the latch firmly against the striker, so that there shall be no in and out movement of the door when closed, and it must also hold the door rigidly against up and down movement. lVhile the device of my said prior patent effectively performs all three of these functions, it is not entirely satisfactory in certain particulars, principally because the construction is such that it is considered much more practical to employ the rubber cushioning means disclosed therein'than to employ any form of metal cushioning means in lieu thereof, of which I am aware.

Moreover, the employment of rubber as a buffer for automobile doors is quite general',

1930. serial No. 452,264.

notwithstanding the fact that rubber is likely Y to lose its resiliency within a few years. While various types of buffers have been produced which avoid the use of rubber, and which more or less eiiectivelycushion the closing movement of the door, these devices, so far as I am aware, are only partlyeffective in preventing rattling, as they do'not act both to hold the door rigidly against up and down movement, or to hold the latch with sufiicient firmness against the striker`,when the door is closed. v

The objects of my present invention are to produce a construction which will possess all of the advantages of my said prior construction, and will at the same time eliminate the disadvantages thereof by eliminating the practical necessity of employing a rubber cushioning means and enabling the employment of spring metal cushioning means which will be durable and will not deteriorate through use' for an indefinite period. Also to provide a construction which may be manu'-V factured Vat a reduced expense, as compared with my said prior device, and which may be readily installed.

I accomplish theseobjects by means of the construction hereafter described and as illustrated in the which: l

Fig. 1 is an elevation of portions-cfa door and its jamb in which devices embodying my invention are mounted.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a portion of the edge of the door. v

Fig. 3 is a similar view of a corresponding Y portion of the jamb.

Figs. 4 and 5 aresimilar views partly in section, showing the members in different relative positions. i

Figs. 6 and 7 are detail perspective views of the male and female members respectively. `Fig. 8 is a sectional vie-w at line 8-.8 of Fig.` 4.

Fig. 9 is detail view of a modified form of female members. Y .i

In the drawing, a horizontally swinging door Vl() is indicated as having the usual spring latch l1, which engages with a striker 18 in the jamb, or door casing 12, when the door is in closed position.

The jamb 12 is recessed to receive the female member of the device, which comprises a sheet metal casing 14 of rectilinear form, said casing being open at its outer side and outer end and closed at its other sides, and the edges of the casing at its open side and end being nearly flush with the side and front surfaces of the j amb. An angular face plate 15 is provided for covering the casing 14 after the installation has been completed, said plate having an opening at its front and side to permit the entrance of the male member of the device, as hereinafter described, but having no function otherwise.V The top and bottom sides of the casing are horizontal and exactly parallel, and the inner end thereof is vertical, the construction as thus far described being identi-cal with that disclosed in my said application.

According to my present invention, apreferred form of which is shown in Figs. 1 to 8, a pair of wedge shaped springs 16 and 17 are mounted, respectively, on the inner surfaces of the top and bottom sides of the casing 14, each spring being formed of a fiat strip of resilient steel, or brass, which is bent before tempering, to provide a flat base portion, which is composed of the two end portions a, b of the strip, arranged in the same plane with their ends in close proximity, or actually in abutment, an abutting portion c, which extends pe-rpendicularly from the end portion a, and a curved or outwardly bowed intermediate portion d, which extends obliquely outward from the abutting portion c to the outer end of portion ZJ, the parts of the strip which connect each portion to the next being curved, so that no sharp bends are L formed at any point.

The base portions a, b of each spring 16, 17 are mounted on the innerl surfaces of the top and bottom sides of the casing 14, respectively, with their abutting portions c engaged with the rear wall of the casing, so

that the intermediate portions cl extend divergently with relation to each other, as they extend outwardly from the inner en d of the casing to the front end thereof, thus presenting oppositely disposed, convexly curved faces, which form an inwardly tapering socket having resilient sides so arranged that when pressure is applied to the middle portions of said faces, they may yield inwardly until said faces become flattened.

As a convenient means for holding said springs 16, 17 in position against the top and bottom sides of thev casing`14, tongues 18 are struck out froln the metal of the back side of the casing and bent forwardly into the casing in position to engagev the inner sides of the base portions a, b, as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 8, said tongues being engaged with said e5 base portions sufficiently closely to hold the springs may be forced inward, orto position them permanently.

The male member of the device may be of cast metal, but preferably consists of a flat strip of metal bent to provide a wedge shaped lug 22 having flat converging top and bottom faces, and having ears 23 for attachment thereof to the edge of the door, said member, when secured in position, being so arranged that it projects horizontally in such a position that its said faces converge as they extend towards the female member and are so arranged that, when the door is swung to closed position and moves in correct alignment with its jamb, the lug 22 will be carried in a path in which the horizontal plane which bisects the angle between the faces of spring portions d will also bisect the angle between the top and bottom faces of the lug 22, so that the ,faces of the latter will normally simultaneously engage the faces of portions d, respectively, and as the faces of the latter are convex or outwardly bowed and disposed obliquely to the path of movement of the lug 22, the faces of the latter will normally engage the middle portions of said convex c will engage when the door has nearly reached i* its closed position, as indicated in Fig. 4, and the portions CZ will be sprung inward until they conform to the faces of the lug 22 and are approximately straight or flat when the door is fully closed and has become latched,

as shown in Fig. 5. In consequence, the final closing movement of the door will be yieldingly resisted or cushioned, and, by the time the resistance becomes so great that the closing movement is arrested, the door will latch.

Then the parts are in the fully closed position, so that the lug-engaging portions l of the springs are flattened, said portions will then become unyielding, as they are rigidly supported at their ends, so that the springs 16, 17 will then rigidly hold the lug, and consequently the door, against up and down movement with relation to the casing, also, as the engaging portions d tend to spring obliquely outward, they will tend to push the lug 22 outward and will thus act to hold the latch firmly engaged with the striker. The door will thus be securely held against both up and down and in and out movement and all tendency to rattle will thus be prelili vented, the closing movement of the door being cushioned by the action of the same force as that which tends to press the door outward when closed and holds its latch firmly against the striker.

In case the door should sag or become slightly misaligned with its casing, the lug 22 will engage the face of one of the before it engages the other, as the door is closed and will cause the door to be lifted, or depressed, as the case may be, until the upward and downward pressures on the lug are equal and the door is correctly aligned.

The action of the wedge shaped lug in `flexing the outwardly bowed portions d inward causes a slight outward movement of the outer ends thereof, as there inner ends are firmly held in abutment with the inner end of the casing, so that there will be a slight outward sliding movement of the outer base portions and a slight separation of the ends of portions a and b of each spring. Free action of the bowed portions d, as they are pressed inward, is thus permitted. Y

The distance which the door moves from the point where the lug engages the yielding portions d to the point where the door is fully closed, is relatively slight, and, as it must latch when fully closed, an accurate positioning of the springs 16, 17 with relation to parts on the door, when installed, is necessary. This is accomplished b y inserting as many of the thin metal plates 20, between the springs 16, 17 and the rear wall of casing 14, as may be necessary. For example when installation is made the casing 14 may be setso that the door will latch before the lug 22 has engaged the springs 16, 17with sutiicient firmness to cushion the closing movement of the door and to hold it against rattling. To correct this condition the springs 16, 17 will be forced outward, and one or more of the plates 20 will be inserted between the same and the rear wall of the casing, so that the lug will engage the springs at an earlier point in the closing movement, and the spring portions d may be sprung inward to their fullest extent, by the time the door latches'.

In F ig. 9 a somewhat modified form of the invention is illustrated, in which the two wedge shaped springs above described, are formed from a single continuous flat metal strip, bent in a manner similar to that dis closed in my said application. A s shown, the single strip is formed to provide two end portions a', which are arranged oppositely in engagement with the rear wall of the casing 14, parallel -base portions o', which are respectively engaged with the top and bottom sides of the casing, and permit in and out adjustment thereof and outwardly bowed intermediate spring portions cl, which are joined at their inner ends by a semicircularly curved portion e and extend divergently outward in the same positions as the portions d portions flv before described. The ends of the strip pref-` erably engage opposite points of the curved portion ,to provide a'supporttherefor. The action in cushioning the closing movement of the door and in holding it against rattling is substantially :the same as before described. i With either of the above'described constructions, the use of rubber as abuffer is avoided, and by locating-a pair of said devices each approximately midway between the middle and the top and bot-tom ends of the doorV and casing, the employment of a device having the functionV of a dovetail willbe unnecessary.' i f Iclaimt. H Y 1. A combined holder and buffer fora door, comprising male and female members, one adapted to be mounted on the door and the other on its j amb, and to be moved relatively in a predetermined path, said male member having oppositely disposed rigid faces extending convergently towards the female Vmember and said female member having a pair of elongated metal springs symmetrically disposed atopposite sides of said path and bowed uniformly towards each other to form a socket for receivingfthe male -member said springs being rigidly'supported at each of their ends, with the ends at the inner end of the socket in closer proximity to said path than those at its outer end, therebyextending divergently from the inner end `of the socket, to providelongitudinally convex faces arranged for simultaneous engagement with the corresponding facesof the male member and' yieldable in directions/perpendicular to the faces of the male member which they respectivelyengage duringthe further closing movement of the door.

2. Acombined holder and buffer for a door and its jainb comprising male and female members, one adapted to be mounted on the door and the other on the jamb and to be moved relatively in a predetermined path,

said male member having flat oppositely disposed rigid faces extending convergently toward the female member andthe latter comprising a pair of flat metal springs arranged to extend divergently towards the male mem ber, said springs being rigidly supported at their ends and bowed towards each other to form longitudinally convex faces arranged for simultaneous engagement at their middle portions` with the corresponding facesof said male member7 as the door is being moved into closed position, and to yield obliquely to said path and in the direction of the pressure of the male memberthereagainst during the further closing movement.

3. A combined holder and buder for a door and its jamb, comprising male and female members, one adapted to be mounted on the door and the other on the jamb and to be moved relatively in a predetermined path, said male member having oppositely disposed rigid faces extending convergently toward female member, and said female member comprising a casing having a pair of flat metal springs oppositely mounted for ad- 5 justment therein longitudinally of said path, each spring having portions thereof rigidly supported at their ends in position to eXtend divergently towards the male member and bowed outwardly towards each other to pro- 10` vide convex faces arranged for engagement at their middle portions with the corresponding faces of the male member, as the door is being moved into closed position, and to yield obliquely to said path and in the direction l of the pressure of the male member thereagainst until they conform to the faces of said male member and the door is fully closed, thereby to cushion theclosing movement of thek door, hold it against movement transversely of said path when in closed position and to tend to press it towards open position. 4. A door-holding device comprising a socket member and a wedge member adapted to be mounted, one on the door and the other 25 on its j amb, said socket member comprising a casing having upper and lower parallel conning walls and opposed wedge engaging elements confined between said walls and arranged for adjustment in the direction of the relative movement of the members, said wedge-engaging elements having inclined diverging surfaces adapted to be engaged by the converging surfaces of the wedge member, the inclined surfaces of one of the mem- 35 bers being convexl curved with res ect to the inclined ysurfaces of the other member, and yieldable to permit further closing movement of the door after they have been moved into engagement.

4c 5. In an anti-rattling device for doors, a

socket member and a. wedge member having inclined converging surfaces adapted to be engaged as the door on which one of the members is mounted is moved to closed position therewith, said socket member comprising a casing having lupper and lower parallel confining walls and opposed wedge engaging elements confined between said walls and arranged for adjustment in the 5G direction of the4 relative movement ofthe members, said wedge engaging elements having inclined, diverging outwardly bowed springs adapted to be engaged by the converging surfaces -of the wedge member, and

5b' to be flattened thereby to permit further closing movement of the door.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE W. WELLS. 

